Thursday, October 07, 2010

DJ Strawberry Blazes His Own Trail

In a story from the New Orleans Times-Picayune, DJ Strawberry (2002-06) talks about blazing his own trail in the world and trying to get back into the NBA this season after playing in Europe, fighting an injury, and making a comeback in first the NBA D-League last spring, then the NBA Summer League with the Lakers, and now training camp with the New Orleans Hornets. Excerpt:

Following stops with the Suns and in 2008-09 with the Houston Rockets, Strawberry played 19 regular-season games in Italy and six games in the postseason Eurocup before a meniscus injury in his left knee ended his season. After microfracture surgery and rehabilitation, Strawberry played in 26 games for the Reno Bighorns in the NBA Development League, then this past summer for the Lakers' summer league team, before joining the Hornets as a free agent just before the start of training camp.

"It's definitely hard work," he said. "It's competitive every day. You have to show it every day that you want it more than anybody else. And you just have to come in with the attitude that you belong here. I think I belong here. And I've just got to come out and show it every day and compete and do what the coaches ask me to do.

"I'm in a position where I could get back in the NBA. I've just got to make it happen and show everybody I can play. I'm blessed to come back from (the surgery). I view every day as a blessing, coming back and being able to play the game I love."

Of course, most of the story is the same story that we've all read before where a new city's sports section discovers, "Hey, he's Darryl Strawberry's son! Let's write a story about that!"

There's also an accompanying video interview with DJ, where he talks about how he can play point guard and shooting guard, his outlook on the Hornets roster, and how he came to love basketball instead of baseball.